Chamber and committees

My opening question is about the groundbreaking climate reparation policy that the Scottish Government has put in place. That has long been asked for by the global south and by non-governmental organisations: Scotland is the first country to make reparations. Is there a measurement for that? How is the impact of that money being assessed?

Good morning, and welcome to the 17th meeting in 2024 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.

Our first agenda item is a declaration of interests, as a result of a membership change. I welcome George Adam to the committee and invite him to declare any relevant interests.

Yes, Mr Strang.

I am going to leave it to Mr Bibby to decide.

You mentioned our committee visit to Dublin, which we all found very informative. We were able to see how people there are playing to their strengths in terms of image and reputation and drawing on the energy and enthusiasm of their diaspora.

Do the revised national outcomes draw on the experiences of other small countries? I was very envious that Ireland was opening its—I think—131st mission. It has been concentrating very much on the African continent recently. What lessons can we learn from somewhere such as Ireland, albeit that it is an independent nation?

Welcome back. Our fourth agenda item is to take evidence as part of the committee’s inquiry into the Scottish Government’s national outcomes and into the indicators relating to international policy.

We are again joined by Angus Robertson MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. He is joined by two Scottish Government officials: Russell Bain is deputy director for international futures and brand Scotland policy, and Craig Thomson is team leader for working internationally.

I again invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement.

It is worth noting that, in all these areas, the clerks have been working very closely with your officials to try to improve the reporting mechanism and ensure that we are aligned in what is happening, and I thank your officials and my clerks for that on-going work.

As convener, I would say that I certainly welcome the move away from crude measurements such as gross domestic product towards wellbeing and the establishment of a feminist foreign policy. All those aspects show how we can do things differently and are, I think, really important. However, when we took evidence from Oxfam, it, too, welcomed the move away from crude measures but, as stakeholders, it still wanted to see how that would translate into policy and spending decisions and the budget part of international development work. Is that something that you are considering?

Thank you, cabinet secretary. I move to questions from committee members, starting with Mr Ruskell.

The second agenda item is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to consider in private at future meetings the draft reports on the national outcomes and on the inquiry into the review of the European Union and United Kingdom trade and co-operation agreement?

Members indicated agreement.

Our third agenda item is an evidence session as part of the committee’s inquiry into the review of the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement. We are joined online by Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. He is joined from the Scottish Government by Frank Strang, who is the deputy director for European relations, and Nick Leake, who is the deputy director of the European Union office.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.